A typical crop feeding rotor includes a plurality of tines formed of plates having a plurality of equi-angularly spaced points are welded to a central rotor tube to form a complete crop feeding rotor. In a pre-cutter, associated with a baler crop pick-up arrangement, for example, the tines are welded on the rotor to produce a desired spiral pattern. In some prior art crop feeding rotors, the plates are constructed of sheet metal with adjacent pairs of the plates of the spiral pattern occupying the same angular position about the axis of the rotor. In other prior art rotors, at least leading crop engaging surfaces of the points of the tines of the rotors are constructed to have a wide profile having a width approximately three times that of the plate, e.g., see the tines disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,205,424. The wide profile tine points have the advantages over the points of the like-positioned pairs of sheet metal tines of being more durable and easier to manufacture. However, when welded on the rotor to produce the required spiral pattern, the wide profile tine creates an uneven or staggered surface for crop to engage when pressed against the stationary cutting knife thus resulting in a diminished cut quality when compared to the much narrower points of the sheet metal tines since the narrow profile allows a pair of tines to straddle each stationary knife.
What is needed then is a pre-cutter tine having points including a wide-profile crop engaging surface that is durable, but does not present the undesirable uneven or staggered surface for crop to engage.